In many cases, the end of the year gives you time to step back and take stock of the last 12 months. This is when many of us take a hard look at what worked and what did not, complete performance reviews, and formulate plans for the coming year. For me, it is all of those things plus a time when I u...

VLC technology, one of the advanced optical wireless communication technologies, in which light in the visible region (375nm-780nm) is used as a medium for data transmission is more secure and achieves high data rates as compared to conventional wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wimax etc., which use radio waves for communication. Till late 1990s infrared spectrum is used for the communication. But in the early 2000s, researches started using visible light from LEDs as the medium for communication. Initially they were able to achieve network speed about 100Kbps. With continuous developments, VLC systems can now achieve about 800Mbps data rate for short range communications. Many companies and research institutes are conducting research to develop and commercialize Gigabit networks for long range communications.

FSO is based on the same principle as VLC but it uses light in the IR spectrum for communication. Invention RONJA device in 2001, which can achieve 10Mbps network speed over 0.87 miles boosted the research activities in the FSO technology. FSO was initially used for outdoor communication applications. But in the recent times, indoor applications like enterprise connectivity, hospitals are increasing.

Reliability and network coverage are the major issues to be considered by the companies while providing VLC services. Interferences from external light sources like sun light, normal bulbs; and opaque materials in the path of transmission will cause interruption in the communication. High installation cost of the VLC systems can be complemented by large-scale implementation of VLC. Adopting VLC technology will reduce further operating costs like electricity charges, maintenance charges etc.

Visible light communication technology is still in the introductory phase. Indoor networking and location based services are the only applications that are quite penetrated in the market. Products for other applications (intelligent traffic management system, in-flight entertainment, and underwater communication) are expected to hit the market by the end of 2013. VLC may be implemented as a complementary technology to the existing wireless networks. VLC is expected to penetrate M2M communication, smart cities, power over Ethernet (PoE), wireless sensor networks, ubiquitous networks, augmented reality etc. after five years.

Unlike VLC technology, FSO technology is commercialized in the market for quite some time. FSO technology is majorly used in military & aerospace applications due its secure and high speed data transmission rates. FSO is expected to be deployed in MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), service accelerating, last mile connectivity etc. applications in the near future.

This report categorizes the VLC/Li-Fi market based on components, applications and geography. Components include LEDs, infrared emitters, Opto-couplers, and image sensors. Major applications of VLC/Li-Fi covered in this report are Intelligent Traffic Management Systems (ITMS), Indoor Networking, In-flight Entertainment, Underwater Communication, and Location Based Service (LBS). The global market is fragmented in North America, Europe, APAC and ROW. The report also describes FSO market by applications: enterprise applications, mobile carrier backhaul, and military & aerospace; and geography.

Top players in the VLC/Li-Fi market include LVX System (U.S.), pureVLC Ltd (U.K.), Nakagawa Laboratories, Inc. (Japan), Outstanding Technology Corporation (Japan) and ByteLight (U.S.). Many research centers, institutes and consortiums are also undertaking R&D activities to develop and commercialize VLC technology. These include Visible Light Communication Consortium (VLCC), LiFi Consortium, University of Oxford (U.K.), Smart Lighting Engineering Research Centre, UC-Light Center (University of California, U.S.), Keio University (Japan), University of Edinburgh etc. APAC region is expected to be the market leader in the VLC/Li-Fi market owing to the recent technology developments and increased R&D activities.

Top players in the FSO market include fSONA Networks Corp. (Canada),Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (U.S.), Northern Hi-Tec Ltd (U.K.), LightPointe Communications, Inc. (U.S.), Society for Optical Communications Systems Ltd. (Germany), and Wireless Excellence Limited (U.K.). Europe is the market leader in the FSO market at present but, North America is expected to lead the market by 2018. Increased enterprise and military & aerospace application in North America is driving the FSO market in this region.

Scope of the report

This research report categorizes the global VLC technology market; based on component, applications, and geography; it also covers the forecasted revenue and applications of FSO technology.

On the basis of componentGlobal VLC technology component market is segmented into LED, IR emitters, Opto-couplers and image sensors

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